Harry Potter: The Final Part
by riseofafallenangel
Summary: My version of the last HP book The Deathly Hallows. May contains slash. Rated for safety.
1. A Prologue or Two

A/N: This is my version of the last book. I know that this won't happen this is just my version…

The prologue is a bit long but it is necessary so bear with me. Please review and help me know what to change, what to keep etc. Enjoy.

Disclaimer: Not mine.

A Prologue or Two

It was midnight and a man stood at the edge of a forest looking over the huge empty space before him. The man was short and hunched over and his pale face was worried. Every slight sound made him twitch nervously. He was too thin and looked much older than he really was. Much older than he had been just a few short years back. The summer night air was warm but as he anticipated the meeting that would soon take place he shuddered. How had everything gone wrong for him so quickly? There were times when he thought he may have made a mistake all those years ago… he never really believed that though. This way he was still alive. That was all that mattered.

He had been waiting for a while and was almost beginning to think that they weren't going to turn up when he heard a loud 'crack' behind him. He took a deep breath, touched his thin hair nervously and turned round to see who had been the first. He hadn't even finished turning to check when there were dozens more cracking sounds all around him and the space was filled with people in black robes and masks. He pulled on his own mask and mixed into the crowd. Hoping and praying that this time he would go unnoticed.

There hadn't been a meeting this big since The Dark Lord's fall. Weaving in and out of the waiting Death Eaters, Wormtail wondered what it was that The Dark Lord wanted to say so badly that he would call everyone together like this. The Death Eaters numbers had grown massively in the last few months and there was a big risk of them being seen or followed. What was so important that The Dark Lord would take that risk? He would find out soon.

He didn't see his master appear but he felt all the bodies around him stiffen and turn to face one end of the field. He saw the tall, bony figure of The Dark Lord almost floating towards them and fell to the ground in a deep bow. All around him the other death eaters were silently bowing and he could see the smirk on his master's face as he saw how much power he had. It wasn't a smile. The Dark Lord never smiled.

The Dark Lord began to speak in his icy voice. It was hardly louder than a whisper but it cut through the silence like a knife. Impossible to ignore.

oxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

In his small bed at the Burrow, Harry tossed about in his sleep. He was dreaming of a huge dark field filled with black figures. He could see Voldemort standing before them, saying something… what was he saying? He strained his ears but he couldn't make out many words. Voldemort was angry, maybe worried about something but he couldn't tell much else. The link was getting weaker.

He hardly ever dreamt about Voldemort anymore and when he did his dreams were indistinct, distant. Part of him was glad about it but another part desperately wanted to know what was happening, and his dreams seemed like the only way to achieve that. The scene blurred and faded away as he woke up.

It was still dark in the room. He could hear Ron's steady breathing in the bed next to his and the silence in the rest of the house. It was unusual for people to sleep so well. There was usually someone up, pacing, worrying. But then it was an unusual night. Everyone was as happy as they could be. There would be a wedding the next day. Bill and Fleur were getting married. Harry smiled into the darkness as he remembered Mrs Weasley's face the day before. It had been so long since he had seen her smile but she had been grinning all over her face, rushing around getting everything organised. He wished he could be that happy but, as usual, things weren't that simple.

He had been thinking a lot about the horcruxes. About starting the search for them. Ron and Hermione wanted to talk about it but he couldn't. He had decided a while ago that they weren't going with him. He knew they wanted to. He wanted them to be with him but he needed to go alone. At least for a while. However, he also knew they would never accept that decision so he had made a plan to slip away. He would do it the next day, just after the wedding. Everyone would be distracted, the perfect opportunity… but the thought of leaving alone scared him. He turned to look at Ron. He was going to miss him. They had been through so much together. He knew Ron would be better off without him though. He would have his family and Hermione and they wouldn't be in so much danger anymore. Somehow the thought that the people he cared about would be safer made leaving a bit easier.

The sun was starting to rise so he got out of bed, changed quietly so he wouldn't disturb Ron, and crept down the creaky stairs to the kitchen. As he opened a cupboard to get a glass he heard the door open.

"I thought I heard someone come down." It was Ginny.

"Yeah I thought I'd just get a drink."

She moved closer to him and tried to touch his cheek but he shifted away, pretending to be filling the glass in his hand. Her face fell and she mumbled something about getting dressed before leaving him alone.

Harry had been trying his hardest to avoid being alone with Ginny ever since he had broken up with her. He knew she thought that there was a chance he would change his mind and that made him feel uncomfortable around her because there wasn't. Even if he didn't have to leave. Ever since he had decided to leave school to find the horcruxes he had begun to feel like he had grown out of her. He hated thinking of it like that, it felt like he was patronizing her, like suddenly she was less mature than him, but it was the only way to describe the feeling. She was a part of his old life. He was starting again. Starting tomorrow.

oxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

Harry had never been to a wedding before but he decided it wasn't fair to judge weddings in general by his experience of Bill and Fleur's. After all, he had been waiting for it to end since it started so he was hardly experiencing the full happiness of the occasion… Well that was what he told himself. He preferred that explanation to the other one which went something along the lines of him being dead inside and incapable of any emotion. He didn't like that idea very much.

Practically everyone else in the room had been in tears the whole way through the ceremony. True there weren't that many people but the ones that were there cried enough for all the people who couldn't make it. By the time the end came and everyone filed out to go to the party at the Burrow it was not difficult for Harry to make an excuse to get away. He told Ron and Hermione he felt like walking back, that he would meet them there and walked away before they had a chance to object. It would be a while before they realised he wasn't coming back.

He walked until he was a few roads away before turning into a back alley and sticking his wand out to call the knight bus.

"'ello Harry! Long time no see. You know I was thinking about you the other day! I was just telling…" Harry could see that Stan would be talking for a while so he cut him off before he had a chance to get going properly.

"That's great. Listen, I need to go to somewhere near Godric's Hollow. Do you know where that is?" Stan nodded looking a bit annoyed at being interrupted. Harry felt a bit bad but he knew Stan would forget about it fairly quickly. He made up for it buy buying the most expensive toothbrush before going to sit on one of the chairs near the back of the bus. He rested his head on the window, watching all the different scenery speed past. He was out and for the first time in his life he was in control. Well… if he didn't count the mad, evil wizard who was after him and the war and all the other crazy things he hated and couldn't change, then he was in control. In less than a week he would be of age and he could do whatever he wanted. A slow smile spread over his face. In spite of everything that had happened and everything that was going to come, that was a good thought.

Suddenly a wave of tiredness washed over him. Looking around the bus he saw there was still a few more stops before Godric's Hollow. He tried to clear his mind completely the way Snape had taught him but thinking about it made him remember Snape and just the thought of the man made him so angry he felt like he would explode. He had been working hard at his occlumency but he still wasn't getting very far with it. He was determined to get better now he had realised how important it really was but he always seemed to feel too much. Eventually he gave up and drifted off to sleep.

oxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

It is very easy to make plans but a lot of the time it is much harder to carry them out. Harry was beginning to realise that there were a few serious flaws in his plans. He had decided weeks ago, when he was lying in his small bed at the burrow, exactly what he was going to do. His first plan had been to visit the house in Godric's Hollow and look around. Find out what had happened to his parents things. He knew his parents had been part of the Order and that they were in touch with Dumbledore so he thought by visiting he could maybe kill two birds with one stone. He could see where his parents lived, his first home and if he was lucky he might find out a bit more about how things were before Voldemort disappeared. He had a feeling that he needed to know. Like it might help him anticipate what Voldemort would do this time. It was a good theory. When he left the wedding he had been sure it was the right way to go. However, there were several things he hadn't accounted for.

The first was that there were two Godric's Hollows and the Knight Bus had first taken him to the wrong one. The second thing was that when he arrived at the right place he found the house had been fenced off.

It was a kind of tourist attraction. There were almost always people gathered around the fences to see it during the day but no one was allowed inside. He had been told by a local in the surrounding village that nothing had been moved inside the house. They thought it was bad luck. After the bodies had been taken away and the part of the house that had been destroyed was cleared away, it was left exactly how it was. This was good as it meant Harry would not have to track down any of his parents' belongings but it didn't make a difference as he couldn't get in anyway.

The last problem was that he was all over the newspapers. Somehow word had got out that he was missing and everyone was on the lookout for him. This was not good when he was trying to stay unnoticed. How was he supposed to get anything done when the whole of the wizarding world was watching out for him to send him off home? He had used a concealing charm on his scar and charmed his hair to make it longer. He looked different enough to not be recognised by most people but he knew that if he met anyone he knew they would recognize his face.

He sat in a small bar looking up the hill at the house. It had taken him three weeks but he had finally decided the best way to get in. He finished his butterbeer and left to trudge up to the fence. At first he had thought he could just wait until dark when the tourists were gone and climb over the fence but he had soon realised the hard way that the fence was enchanted in some way and all he would achieve from that idea was being thrown back down the hill and getting a severely bruised arse. He had tried flying over but the wards seemed to go up pretty high.

He approached the small gate in the fence and pulled a sheet of rubber out of his bag. He had thought about it and decided that the fence might be a bit like an electric fence and since electricity couldn't go through rubber… it wasn't the best idea in the world but he thought it might be worth a try. He wrapped the rubber around the handle and fiddled with the lock until it popped open. To his amazement the door opened perfectly easily without him being thrown at all. Feeling very proud of himself he closed the gate and ran into the house, hoping nobody had seen him.

oxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

Inside the house was covered in dust. There were baby toys and books lying on the floor and everything was still set out in a way that gave Harry the unnerving feeling that the owners had just gone back for a pizza and would be back soon. He knew he was alone and that no one would come in but he still crept around as quietly as he could. The smallest noise made him jump. He couldn't remember ever feeling so twitchy. He found a small flight of stairs. Upstairs the rooms were a bit tidier. He found a room which he thought must have been his parents' room and after a moment's hesitation he went in.

The room was quite small. One of the walls was taken up by a huge window which flooded the whole room with moonlight. Harry noticed it was nearly the full moon. To stop himself thinking about Remus and everyone else he walked over to a chest in the corner and busied himself looking through it. He felt bad about going through his parents' possessions but he had already told himself it was necessary. He was sure they wouldn't have minded.

There wasn't much of interest in the chest. Some dresses which he assumed belonged to his mum and a photo of his mum and dad together at Hogwarts which he pocketed before moving on to search somewhere else. He had been searching for a few hours when he found an old box. It was full of yellowing pieces of paper and he was about to close it when he saw the word "mbledore" on a corner of one of the pieces. He picked it up and began to read. It was a letter from Dumbledore checking up on his parents' and telling them what had happened at the last meeting of the Order. As he glanced over the rest of the paper he saw that it was all letters so he shrunk it magically and put it in his pocket. He didn't know if there would really be any information in there but it couldn't hurt to check. The sun was beginning to rise so he turned around to leave the room. Before he walked out he stopped to take one last look at his parents' room. It was so peaceful. As he stood looking he saw, out of the corner of his eye, a dark figure flash past the window. Suddenly alert, he drew his wand and walked slowly towards it but when he looked out there was no one there. He left the house again in a hurry, without looking back.

oxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

A/N: What do you think? Review!


	2. The Start

A/N: Again this isn't a very interesting chapter but please read, review etc. on with the story…

Disclaimer: I wish.

The Start

Hermione put the strongest locking charm she knew on her bedroom door and tried the handle before she turned to face the others. Ron and Ginny waited for her to sit down. Ginny spoke first.

"Are we ready now? Did you two do your parts?"

Ron and Hermione nodded. The last couple of weeks had been spent packing, making up cover stories and planning where they were going to go.

"Yes Ginny, we have done everything. Every single little minute thing. We were ready days ago!"

Ron loved his sister dearly but her obsessive meetings and planning was beginning to get on his nerves.

Harry had been away for two years. For a long time no one had had any idea where he was but Ron, Hermione and Ginny had been determined to find him. Whatever he was doing, they wanted to help. Until about a month ago they had no luck finding out where he was, until they heard Mrs Weasley and Lupin talking in the kitchen.

They were talking about a new defensive group which had been formed that was supposed to meet near Hogsmeade. Remus had been approached by them a week before and had agreed to help them by doing some background work. Hermione had quickly deduced that Harry was probably behind it. Their previous searches had located him somewhere near Hogsmeade and since the Order had fallen apart it made sense that he would want to start a new group. They had soon made plans to leave and find him. If he had started a new defence group he would want all the help he could get.

oxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

Harry sat in a small room looking out of the window. He hardly moved except to breath, he looked as if he was asleep, but he was as wide awake and alert as always. He shifted slightly to look at the man sleeping on a bed in the far corner of the room. He should be awake soon. If it had worked he should be awake soon. Harry shook his head. Why was he doubting it now? It should work; there was no real reason for it not too. Why was he suddenly doubting himself?

He stood up and walked over to the bed. He could remember a time not so long ago when he had thought he would never see this man again and now he was so close. He reached out to touch his face but pulled himself back. Now was no time to get all sentimental. He had brought him back for a reason. He walked back to the window and sat down.

Two years ago, just after he had left the Burrow, Harry had found a box of letters. He had taken the box with him in the hopes that he would find something to help him. There wasn't much. He assumed his parents must have just been putting their letter in the box when they got them to keep them out of the way. There was one letter though. It was to James from Sirius. It was mostly pointless chat about motorbikes, quidditch and how Lily and baby Harry were but near the end Sirius had said:

"… My brother visited the other day. You know Regulus? Of course you do. The short, boring one. It's a bit unfair that I got the fun genes AND the stunningly handsome genes but that's life isn't it? Anyway, he knocks on my door, panting like he's just run a marathon, and hands me this necklace. Big thing. Almost as ugly as him. I tried to say "thanks but no thanks" but he was gone. He always was an odd guy…"

As he had read this he remember the locket horcrux and R.A.B. Something in his mind told him that it had to be the right one.

That was the beginning of his real search. It was harder than he though it would be because he had no idea what Sirius had done with it. He had searched for 2 months solid before he realised it was no good. That was when he began his research on the Veil. He knew he needed Sirius to tell him where it was or he would search forever. To start off with it seemed like it would be harder than just searching the whole of England but then he met Estrella.

He had been aware for a while that someone was following him. He had never seen this mysterious person exactly but since that night at Godric's Hollow he had kept hearing footsteps behind him and catching a glimpse of a dark figure, just out of sight. He had set a trap involving several stunning spells and taken her back to the small flat he was staying in. A few hours investigation had told him that her name was Estrella Martinez. She had heard that he had disappeared and wanted to follow him. It was her own odd way of trying to find out what was going on in the war. After a bit more talking it turned out that her father worked in the library section of the Department of Mysteries. Harry decided to tell her about his plan to bring Sirius back. He still didn't know why he had chosen to trust her with it. He had only known her a day and she had been practically stalking him for months but somehow it seemed like a sensible thing to do.

Suddenly the plan starting moving more quickly. She managed to get him into the Department of Mysteries and he found out as much as he could about the veil. He developed a theory about how to bring someone back to life. It was complicated and hinged on the assumption that the veil would have kept Sirius in the same state he was when he fell through. He tried to explain it to Estrella but she didn't know much magic and she just looked blank. She was helpful though, and soon they were good friends which was good because Harry didn't really have anyone else.

And now, after all that time, Harry was finally waiting for Sirius to wake up and he was beginning to get nervous. No one had ever been brought back from the dead before and he couldn't help thinking that maybe there was a reason… Who knew what state Sirius would be in if he woke up?

Harry was so lost in his thoughts that he hadn't noticed the sun start to rise and he almost jumped out of his skin when a voice behind him said:

"Where am I?"

He spun around to look at Sirius. He had opened his eyes and was staring around blearily.

"Harry?"

"Hello Sirius. It's been a while."

oxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

A/N: Review! (nicely if possible)


	3. Searching For Harry

A/N: Very short chapter coming up but I didn't really think I could stick onto the next chapter which is fairly long. I will update quickly though…

Disclaimer: …

Searching For Harry

"Maybe we could ask someone?" Hermione said doubtfully. "Someone might have seen him…"

Ginny looked at her in a way that suggested she thought she had hit her head on something hard.

"Do you really think he will be just wandering around for everyone to see?! If he's been keeping his head down then probably no one has seen him for ages."

Hermione made a huffing sound but said nothing. Ginny was getting more and more grumpy everyday. Ron broke the silence.

"Well it can't hurt to ask can it? Come on." He led them into the Three Broomsticks and walked up to the bar. When Madame Rosmerta saw them she squealed happily.

"Hello! Where have you lot all been?"

Ron smiled at her, trying as hard as he could not to look at her chest.

"Nowhere special. We were wondering if you had seen Harry recently."

She seemed to think about it for a while before replying.

"Not for a few weeks, no." Ginny shot Hermione a look that clearly said 'Told you so' before she continued. "But I did see that friend of his this morning."

"Right…" said Ron, feeling slightly confused. "Well do you know where we could find him?"

Again, she though for a while and then led them to a window. She pointed to the end of the road at a small gate.

"I don't know exactly where he is but they all seem to go off through there. If you go through that gate and keep walking for a while you might find someone who can tell you."

They thanked her and headed towards the gate.

"What are we going to do when we find him?" Hermione asked nervously.

Ron looked slightly nervous too.

"I dunno… we talk to him I guess… Let's just concentrate on finding him first."

They walked on in silence for a few moments before they saw someone wearing dark robes just ahead of them. Ron gestured to the girls to follow and dodged behind a rock to see where the person was going. Slowly they started to follow. They didn't know where the person was going but they were going the way that Madame Rosmerta had said Harry's 'friends' always went so following seemed obvious.

They followed the stranger for what seemed like ages before he (or she- they couldn't tell from behind) disappeared round a corner. They crept round to find whoever it was had gone. Ron was about to speak when he felt a bar hit the back of his knees. He yelled and crumpled to the ground. Ginny and Hermione tried to spin round and defend themselves but pretty soon they were on the floor too. They looked up to see a young looking girl standing over them holding a branch.

"Sorry about this" she said, not looking even slightly apologetic, and pulled out an old looking wand. Stunning them before they had a chance to move.

oxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

A/N: Told you it was short… review!


	4. The DM

A/N: Please review I feel lonely…

Disclaimer: I don't own the characters… except Estrella. I own her.

The DM

Ron, Ginny and Hermione gradually came around to the sound of voices. They were tied up in a corner of a dark room. The walls looked like they might belong to one of the caves they had passed, like the one Sirius had hidden in in their third year.

"Couldn't you have used that stunning spell I taught you?"

"I did!"

"I mean couldn't you have used it INSTEAD of beating them up?"

"Well where's the fun in that?"

The male voice groaned and gave up. The others thought they had heard it somewhere before. The other voice was female. Seemingly the person who had ambushed them.

"Well they should wake up soon. If they do, call me. I'm going next door."

"Aw come on they aren't going anywhere! I don't want to baby-sit them!"

There was a pause before the man spoke again.

"You know what. You don't need to."

"Really?" The girl sounded surprised. She wasn't used to him giving up so easily.

"No. 'Cause they're already awake."

Ron risked looking through his eyelids at the other occupants of the room and when he saw them looking at him he gave up all pretence of being asleep.

"Who are you? Where are we? And Why?"

The girl giggled. He was really starting to dislike her.

"Well he gets straight to the point at least… Hi. My name is Estrella Martinez. You are in one of the storage rooms above the DM and you are here because you were following me which, just so you know, is not only unsettling at a time like this, it is also rude. Any more questions?"

Ron didn't say anything but Hermione had suddenly found her voice.

"Yes. Where's Harry? We need to talk to him."

This time the girl wasn't the only one laughing. The man did too. The laugh made the three teenagers even surer that they knew him. It was hard to see him properly in the dark. He was further away than the girl. Something about his laugh made shivers run down Hermione's spine. It wasn't a real laugh. It was cold and empty and sounded like it hadn't been used for a very long time.

"Have I changed that much Hermione? Do you really not recognize me?" The man moved closer to her, out of the shadows. She gasped. It was Harry. But he had changed so much… he looked older. Much older than her or Ron. Tired. His eyes were still as green as ever but now they looked blanker. There were obvious changes. He had grown his hair and he didn't have his glasses anymore, he was a lot taller, stronger looking, but it was more than that. She didn't know what had been happening while he was away but it had changed him and the new Harry scared her a bit.

"Could you leave us for a minute 'Strella? Check next door. Find out if he wants anything and tell him I will be back soon."

Estrella looked disappointed but she went anyway. Hermione spun her head round to face him.

"What's going on next door then? More people you have tied up? Let us go! You know who we are!"

"I know but it's quite amusing don't you think?"

Hermione gasped for the second time in a few minutes. Harry would never have said anything like that before. He would never enjoy watching them be scared. He heard her gasp and smiled grimly.

"You seem surprised. You forget though that I haven't seen you in two years and stalking my friend is hardly the best way to reintroduce yourself after that long. I could have been doing anything since then. For all you know I could be a Death Eater. And so could you. That is why you are tied up."

"Harry that's ridiculous!"

"Maybe. But we are in a war Hermione. I can't be too careful… However, I believe that you aren't Death Eaters and I will untie you… After you explain why you are here."

This time Ginny answered.

"We came here to find you. We want to help."

"Well that's very nice but I have all the help I need thanks." Harry waved his hand dismissively and the ropes vanished. "You can go now."

"Just like that? Don't you want us here?"

Harry faced them and said:

"No."

At first they thought that was all he was going to say. Ron looked about ready to jump on him but then he spoke again.

"This is a very serious organization. All of its members were handpicked from the beginning and I can't afford to have new people coming in and confusing everything. We have enough to do right now." He was about to turn and walk out when he saw the shocked looks on their faces and sighed.

"I suppose, if you really want to help, you can help out here at HQ. I don't want you involved in operations but I'm sure I can find something for you to do here."

Ron looked like he was about to argue but Hermione trod on his foot to stop him answering.

"That would be great Harry. Thanks."

Harry knew she didn't mean it but he wasn't going to change his mind.

"Ok. I will be back in a minute and then I will introduce you to everyone." And with that he just walked out of the room, leaving Ron, Ginny and Hermione gaping at each other.

oxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

Harry didn't come back. Instead he sent Estrella to go and fetch the group. He didn't think he could handle all their questions and annoyed looks right now.

Ron, Hermione and Ginny looked around for him as they were lead down the stairs into the main room of what they had gathered from Harry already was the headquarters for his new defence group. Suddenly it didn't look anything like a cave anymore. The walls were lined with buzzing equipment, some they had seen before, a lot they hadn't, and there were desks everywhere covered in maps, old books and potions. They were so amazed that they almost forgot to be annoyed… almost.

Estrella gestured to some seats and sat behind one of the desks without saying anything. The three wanted to ask her a lot of things but they couldn't find the right words and even if they could they weren't sure they were really feeling brae enough to use them. After about three minutes of silence Estrella spun round on her chair and looked at them.

"They are coming. I suggest you try and look slightly less like scared kids. They are not all overly sympathetic." Then she twirled around a couple more time on her chair with an expression on her face like a small child who had just found a fun new game.

Hermione was just about to ask who was coming but her question was answered when about 30 people walked through the back wall of the room and sat behind the desks. They didn't give the three teenagers a sideways look. They were all wearing long, black robes like the ones they had seen Estrella in before which they now realised were designed to make it hard to see who was underneath them. Less than five minutes after the other members came in, Harry re-entered the room through the door. Every face in the room turned to him.

"Good morning again everyone. I will let you get back to work in a minute. I just wanted to tell you that we will have three new people around HQ…" There was a murmur of interest. There were never new members. Harry waved his arm at Ron, Ginny and Hermione. Now everyone was facing them they saw a few faces that they recognized. Fred and George Weasley winked at them cheerfully from behind their desks and Oliver Wood smiled briefly at them. There were a few people they knew from the days of the Order of the Phoenix. Other than that though the faces did not belong to anyone they knew and were extremely blank. When everyone had seen them Harry continued.

"So please don't attack them. Also our guest is awake." A few of the blank faces looked surprised, even slightly scared, but the expression soon disappeared. "I will be leaving with him tomorrow to find the… object. I will leave Estrella in charge while I am gone." The Weasley twins grinned and hi-fived and Harry smiled slightly. "That is all." He walked out again. The minute he left, the silence shattered. The Weasley twins jumped up and ran over to talk to Ron, Hermione and Ginny.

"Hi guys didn't know you were joining!"

"We're not." Ron said grimly. "We're not allowed. He's just letting us 'help out around HQ'. It's so stupid. What exactly happens around here that's so difficult we couldn't help?"

The twins looked uncomfortable.

"Don't take it personally." Said Fred.

"Yeah, he just likes to keep everything organised."

"Anyway helping out here isn't that bad."

"Yeah most people don't even get that far."

Ron still didn't look happy so Fred and George thought they would change the subject.

"Anyway little bro. Welcome to the DM…"

"Stands for Defence Ministry…"

"Not very creative…"

"But it's just a name."

Estrella spun round on her chair again and looked at Fred and George.

"Are you two going to do any work today or are you going to sit there yakking all day?"

George pouted.

"Aww come on 'Strella."

She grinned and waved them back to their seats before standing up and leading the other three back upstairs.

"You can start here. Harry wants this room empty for when he comes back. I would do it but you will be quicker. I'm not really great at the magic thing." She left them staring at a room full of old boxes full of bottles and paper.

oxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

A/N: Like I said before… please review!


	5. More Suprises

A/N: The first part of this chapter doesn't really flow as well as I'd like it too but I couldn't really think of another way to do it. Please, please review. I know that's a bit like begging and therefore very sad but I don't really care. Reviews make me happy!

Disclaimer: Still not mine.

More Surprises

The next day, when Harry left, Ron, Hermione and Ginny got their next shock. This one was a lot bigger though. They went into the main room to find out what they were doing for the rest of the day and everyone was crowded in the middle of the room saying good-bye to Harry. As they got closer they saw that there was another man with him. They didn't think much of it until he turned around. Hermione couldn't stop the small scream escaping from her mouth when she found herself face to face with Sirius Black.

They didn't have enough time to talk to Harry before he left so they had to settle for talking to the other members after he had gone. Of course most of the people in the room hardly seemed to notice they existed so really they talked to Fred and George.

"Who was that guy? The one who looked like Sirius."

George looked at Ron like he was slowly losing his marbles.

"Sirius."

Hermione looked like she was about to faint so it was up to Ron and Ginny to do most of the talking.

"But he's supposed to be dead!"

Fred tried his hardest not to look amused.

"That's not nice Ron. Did he look dead to you?" Then, seeing Ron was freaked out he tried to explain the best he could.

"Harry wanted something but apparently only Sirius knew where it was so he brought him back from the dead so he could take him to get it. Simple."

This time Ginny answered and she was starting to sound irritated.

"But that's impossible."

"Evidently not little sis."

Hermione had, by now, recovered enough to ask a question.

"What is this thing that Harry wants?"

Fred and George looked at each other.

"Well…"

"We don't exactly know."

"He always calls it the object."

"I think it's kind of need to know information…"

"And you don't need to know."

The group turned to see who had said the last part and saw Estrella standing behind them. Ron nearly groaned aloud. He was really getting sick of her. True she wasn't as serious as Harry and the others in the DM seemed to like her but she always seemed to appear out of nowhere and when she did it generally meant they had another boring, pointless job to do. She turned to Fred.

"Could you and your brother please do some work? I know you aren't used to it but practice makes perfect. You three come with me."

Ron, Hermione and Ginny trudged after her as Fred and George complained loudly at having to work. She took them to an empty room.

"You can have a break but stay in here. I will give you some jobs to do later." She sat down in a corner of the room and took out a wand and started practicing spells. Some of them the others recognized as basic spells they had learnt at Hogwarts and others not even Hermione had ever heard before. She had a suspicion that someone had made them up. Most likely Harry as Estrella didn't seem to be very good at magic at all. After a few minutes of watching her Hermione spoke.

"Is he ok?" Her voice sounded worried and although she didn't say who she was talking about Estrella seemed to know. For the first time since they had met her Estrella looked serious and the vaguely amused expression she always seemed to have disappeared.

"I don't know. He is finding this all very difficult. Maybe when the war is over he will be more like he used to be but right now… he is struggling."

"Then why won't he let us help?"

"This is a war. Not a game for little children who want to see some action. We are so close. He just doesn't want you messing things up. He is scared that then it will go on forever."

"What do you mean 'little children'?!?!" Ginny said outraged. "He is our age and you can only be about 17!"

Estrella began to look impatient.

"There is more than one type of maturity. Do you really think by getting worked up and all indignant you will show us that you are old enough? That is the behaviour of little children. If you really want to help and be responsible adults you will do what you are told and not complain."

Ginny sat down, visibly seething. Who was this girl to tell her she was too young? How should she know what Harry thought? She didn't want to admit it to herself but she was jealous. Harry trusted this girl to help and to know what was happening but not her. But that was ok. She could change that. She would get him back.

Ron looked at his sister silently fuming and started to worry a bit. If she blew up at Harry's second in command they might all get kicked out for good. He pointedly started talking to Hermione about something completely different and soon Ginny was joining in as if nothing had happened. But that didn't mean she had forgotten.

She tried not to show it too much but Estrella was worried about Harry. When they had met two years before he was different. Much more fun and relaxed. But whenever she tried to get him to cool down a bit he would tell her she should be taking things more seriously and she would give up. Maybe he was right.

It wasn't that she didn't take the war seriously but she had never been to a wizard school. Her parents hadn't been able to afford it and her dad said that using the school's fund would be taking charity so she went to a muggle comprehensive. As a result of this she didn't have Harry's discipline or magic and she hadn't grown up near people who lived in fear of Voldemort. If she wasn't so good at muggle fighting she didn't think Harry would have her in the DM at all. Before it would have been enough that they were friends but… well just looking at the problems with the other three she could see that had changed.

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Elsewhere, Harry and Sirius were rooting around the attic of 12 Grimmauld Place. This was a dangerous thing to be doing most of the time and it was worse now that it had been deserted for a while and the various dark objects had been hidden by dust.

It had taken Sirius a while to remember but he had eventually remembered that he had taken the locket with him to Grimmauld Place when he went to pick up some of his old stuff. He said this was because it made him feel uncomfortable to have it around, which made Harry even surer that it was the horcrux.

As they searched Sirius tried to make conversation but Harry would only ever answer with a couple of words. In fact, Sirius was beginning to realise they hadn't talked since he came back.

"Harry?"

"That's me."

"Did I do something wrong?"

"No."

"If you're mad at me for some reason you can just say."

"I'm not."

"Oh… ok then."

After that there was a long silence until Harry found a big necklace.

"This it?"

"No, it's older than that. It's…" He broke off as the necklace started to coil around Harry's hands. It seemed to be getting longer and longer as it reached up and started to wrap around his neck. He grabbed at it, trying to break it off, but it just got tighter until he was gasping for air.

"Harry! Stop pulling at it." Sirius pulled out the wand Harry and found for him and tried to blast the catch open but nothing would work. By now, Harry was on his knees and his face was starting to turn blue. Suddenly, Sirius remembered something. He grabbed the big pendant hanging on the end of the chain and it loosened in his hand. Harry collapsed gasping for air while Sirius chucked into a box at the far end of the room.

"It only strangles you if you aren't pureblood." It wasn't the best explanation Sirius could have given but he was still in shock and he didn't think Harry really cared so long as he wasn't being strangled to death by a killer necklace. Harry looked at him oddly as he got his breath back.

"What?" Sirius asked.

"Just… well, thanks."

"What did you expect me to do? Sit and watch you choke?"

Harry didn't say anything. Of course he hadn't thought that… had he? He mentally hit himself. He really had to start trusting people more. Instead of answering he gave Sirius a rare smile.

"We should get back to searching."

"No need, I've got it." Sirius held up an ugly looking gold locket. It was big and dented with a large S on the front and swirling patterns around it. He helped Harry to his feet and they headed down the stairs. Neither of them said anything for a while but eventually it was Harry who broke the silence. He spoke awkwardly.

"Sirius?"

"That's me."

"I'm sorry."

Sirius looked puzzled.

"What for?"

"I lied before. I was a bit mad at you. For going away and…well anyway. I'm sorry; I know it wasn't your fault. Not really."

Sirius looked really sorry.

"It was my fault. I'm sorry. I haven't been the best godfather. But I want to be…" Harry cut him off.

"I'm nearly 20 Sirius. I don't really need a godfather anymore." Sirius tried not to look upset but failed miserably. "But I could always do with another friend."

Sirius smiled so big it took up most of his face and pulled Harry into a hug. Harry gave a small smile and pulled away and they headed back to the edge of the grounds, where they could apparate back to HQ.

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A/N: Review!! (please)


	6. Trying

A/N: Another chapter…

Trying

Harry left Sirius in his room while he went to put the horcrux in the room Ron, Hermione and Ginny had recently cleared out. He placed it carefully in a metal box he had bought specially for it and sat on the floor to look at it. It looked pretty normal as far as big, antique lockets went but he could see why having it around had made Sirius uncomfortable. It didn't move or do anything out of the ordinary for a necklace but it seemed like it was alive. It shined in the wrong places so it seemed to move, almost like it was breathing. He decided that the obvious thing to do would be to try and open it so, with the memory of what the last one had done to Dumbledore's hand, that was what he proceeded to do. Unfortunately, the locket seemed to be welded shut. Either that or it just didn't want to open and it resisted every attempt Harry made to force it apart.

He tried using a muggle knife, burning the edges with his wand, blasting it, freezing it and shattering it and wrenching it open by hand. He even tried casting the killing curse on it thinking that if it was alive and he killed it it might pop open. He had been alone in the room for hours before anyone went to check.

"You ok up here Harry?" Harry turned round. Sirius was standing framed in the doorway.

"Yeah Sirius, thanks. I just need to think about it some more."

"Maybe you should rest a bit and come back tomorrow. It might help." He sounded a bit concerned. It was already dark outside and if Harry didn't stop soon, he would be working on that thing all night.

"In a bit. I just need to think. There has to be a way…"

"Ok…" Sirius sounded reluctant to leave. "If you want any help just come find me."

Harry nodded but didn't look up from the locket.

"Ok. Will do. Bye."

Sirius left him alone and went down the stairs to see if there was anyone around. He found Hermione, Ron and Ginny sitting around playing exploding snap. He pulled up a chair and sat with them.

"Snap! Hi Sirius. How're you doing?" Said Ron.

"I'm alright." He sounded so unconvincing that Hermione lifted her head to look at him and lost that hand. She didn't seem to care though.

"You don't sound it. What's wrong? Didn't you find what you were looking for?"

"No we found it. I'm fine… Is it just me or does Harry seem a bit… stressed at the moment."

This was such an understatement that Ron had to laugh. Hermione glared at him before answering.

"No, it's not just you, we noticed it too. We were talking to that Estrella girl earlier and she says she reckons it's just he's finding the war hard. She seems to think he will be better when it's all done."

"And what do you think?"

Hermione hesitated.

"I don't know. We haven't seen him for two years. We hardly know him anymore."

Sirius sighed and rested his head in his hands. Hermione felt bad for him. He looked so miserable and she wished she could help.

"I'm sure she's right. We can all help him more after the war. He'll be ok."

"I hope so, it's just… I wish I'd been there for him. I made stupid mistakes and he's been alone and he shouldn't have to be. I just want him to be happy, more than anything I want him to be happy."

Hermione watched him as he fiddled with a strand of shiny black hair.

"You really care about him don't you?"

"Of course I do. It's Harry." And that was enough explanation. She understood. You just couldn't help caring about Harry when you knew him. Sirius yawned.

"I think I'll go check on him then go to sleep. All this excitement is wearing me out. I must be getting old." Hermione laughed and went back to playing snap with the others. Sirius went back up to find Harry.

He found him lying on the floor next to the horcrux, fast asleep. He smiled sadly and fetched him a blanket and pillow before locking the necklace up in its box and putting it away. He stood watching Harry for a few minutes before silently creeping out and locking the door.

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A/N: Please review, the silence is killing me… I will give you a present…


	7. More To Come

Chapter 6- More To Come

Things were not working out for Ginny quite the way she had planned. When Harry had broken up with her it had been because he wanted to keep her safe and because he was leaving. Now he had left but she was still there and she would be in danger anyway… so why hadn't he said more than 5 words to her since she had arrived? She had been trying her hardest to be around whenever he turned up in the main room and talk to him as often as possible but he just acted like she didn't exist. She wasn't used to it and she didn't like it one bit.

She had to find a way to get him back. She just HAD to… but how? How do you get a guy who ignores you? Who doesn't seem interested? She had originally planned to find some excuse to visit him in the room he was working in and try to get him talking. He had been in there for 3 days now. But she never had the opportunity. There was either work to do or Ron and Hermione or the twins wanted to talk or Sirius was with Harry so they wouldn't have been alone anyway… Why did it have to be so hard?

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"Getting anywhere yet?" Sirius poked his head round Harry's door for the third time that day.

Harry sighed.

"Not yet. I just keep going round in circles… Dumbledore would have known what to do." Harry looked more miserable and tired every day but he refused to stop working.

"Why don't you take a break? Just for a few minutes."

"No Sirius. I have to do it. If I keep leaving it, it will never get done and this war will never end. I can't stop." Sirius sighed and flopped down on the floor next to him.

"Pass it here." Harry obediently handed him the locket. He turned it over in his hands and put it down on the floor.

"Ok, I have an idea." Harry looked surprised.

"You know how to open it?"

"No."

"So what was your idea?"

"Well, when I was at school and me, your dad and Moony were doing pranks we used to do this thing where we went over the whole thing, from beginning to end, to check for any problems we had missed."

Harry look confused.

"How does that help?"

"Well if we do a version of that but sort of backwards then we might be able to work it out."

"I'm not following you."

Sirius grinned. It was fun when it wasn't him who didn't understand.

"Ok. So we know this is Voldemort's horcrux and we know he picked it 'cause it belonged to Slytherin. So however you open it could be to do with Slytherin as well. He hid it in that cave so it could be to do with growing up in that orphanage or how much he hated caves or how he used to like rock climbing or maybe he hated rock climbing, I don't know we've never really been on speaking terms but if I ever meet him I will ask about the rock climbing…" Sirius trailed off because Harry had a triumphant look on his face.

"What?" he asked.

"Sirius you're a genius!"

"I am?"

"I can't believe I didn't think of it before!"

Harry picked up the locket and peered closely at the pattern on the front. It was a snake coiled around itself. He hadn't noticed before because the pattern was so small. He held it out in front of him and startled Sirius by making an odd hissing sound. The locket steamed and spat at the edges but didn't open. He tried again and the locket hissed and steamed more violently and this time the hinges broke and it popped open. A black cloud shot out. Harry had just pulled out his wand when it disappeared.

"Sirius?"

"Yes?" Said Sirius, feeling a little shaken.

"I think we did it." He gave Sirius a rare smile that was so big it seemed to touch his ears and hugged him.

"Thanks for helping."

Sirius hugged Harry to him, glad that that part was over. But he knew there was more to come.

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	8. What Could Be The Harm?

A/N: Hopefully it will start to be a bit more interesting from now on. Not promising anything though…

Chapter 7- What could be the harm?

"Ok, Tomorrow I will be gone again. So will Sirius, Estrella and…" Harry gazed quickly around the room. They were going to search for the next horcrux. There were two likely locations so he had decided to send two groups to find it quicker. He was going with Sirius but he needed to choose someone to go with Estrella… "Fred."

"I will see you all upstairs in five minutes for briefing." They all nodded and got up to leave. Ron went up to Harry.

"Where are you going this time?"

"Diagon Alley. I won't be gone long."

"Are you going to let us know why?"

"Eventually. Not now though. I have a meeting to go to." He followed Fred out of the room. Ron collapsed on a chair and made an odd growling sound in his throat. Hermione sat awkwardly next to him.

"Why does everyone around here treat us like we are three?" He said angrily.

"They don't mean to. They've just been doing this for a lot longer than us." Hermione had had her hands full between Ron and Ginny, trying to keep them calm. It didn't help that she was fairly annoyed herself.

Ginny watched them talk and silently slipped out of the room and up the stairs to the room where Harry was talking to Sirius, Estrella and Fred. She stood outside the door and listened.

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"Right, we are looking for this wand. It is made from glass and previously belonged to the witch Rowena Ravenclaw. The last owner is known to Ollivander, who disappeared a few years ago. However, the wand is still, very likely, in his house or shop. Sirius and I will search his house which is just outside Diagon Alley and you two will search the shop, which is now out of use. You know where it is. I have had this key made so you will not have to break in. We will not be far away. If anyone finds it, contact the other group immediately and head back here. Any questions?"

Fred looked like he was about to ask something but then thought better of it and shook his head.

"Ok. You can go. Be up early tomorrow."

Fred and Estrella went back to the main room and left Harry alone with Sirius he was about to ask why he hadn't left when he spoke.

"Why the wand?"

"It was Ravenclaw's."

"Yeah but how do you know…"

Harry held up a hand to silence him.

"Dumbledore told me there would be 6 horcruxes. We already destroyed the diary, the ring and the locket and I found the cup shortly after I left, the first time I was searching for the locket. Your brother destroyed that. Now there is just te snake and one other which Dumbledore said would have belonged to Griffindor or Ravenclaw. The wand was the only one I could think of, I had to start somewhere."

Sirius nodded.

"Ok. See you tomorrow then." Harry nodded and watched Sirius leave before putting the wand away. When he turned around to go he saw Ginny standing in front of him.

"Ginny. What are you doing up here?"

"I was just wondering if you wanted any help."

"I'm fine thanks."

"You know Harry," She edged nearer to him and touched his arm. "If you want anything, you can just ask. I will always be here."

He shrugged her arm off.

"Thanks Ginny but I'm ok."

Ginny exploded.

"Why are you ignoring me?!?! Just before you left you seemed to really like me and now it's like you can't stand to be around me! Am I not good enough for you anymore?!"

Harry spun round to face her with an expression that looked slightly apologetic on his face.

"I'm sorry Ginny but… things have changed. I'm older now. I grew up and left the rest of you behind. I have more important things to do. This isn't school anymore, this is the real world and in the real world things don't always work out." He said this in an infuriatingly calm voice that just made Ginny angrier.

"So now I'm too young for you?!"

Harry looked like he was getting bored of the conversation and began to walk out but Ginny wouldn't let him.

"After everything, all that time, you're just going to turn me down because I'm too fucking young?! I can't believe you! I'm only a year younger than you! It didn't make a difference before."

"I didn't mean you were actually too young I meant you are mentally less mature than the other people here. You haven't been through any of the stuff I have in the last two years and there's no reason why you should grow up. You are lucky. I'm just older than I was before. I'm sorry." And with that he left the room quickly before she had a chance to reply.

She stood staring at the closed door for a moment before running down the stairs and out through the door, into Hogsmeade.

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She walked around aimlessly in the cold for about an hour before she clamed down enough to go into the three broomsticks and get a drink. She sat at a dark table in a corner and sipped at a mug of butterbeer. She was going to get something stronger but she decided that turning up back at HQ drunk would just prove them all right about her being immature so she didn't.

She didn't know how long she had been sitting there when the man approached her. He asked if he could sit with her and she said ok. He was wearing a dark cloak and she couldn't really see his face but she didn't care. She wasn't planning on talking to him.

They sat in silence for a while before he started asking questions: What was wrong? Was she alone? Where was she staying?

He bought her a couple of firewhiskeys and asked some more questions. A few hours later, when she had told him about her fight with Harry, he asked if she wanted to come and meet some people. She said yes. After all, he seemed perfectly nice; he talked to her like a human being and treated her like an equal. What could be the harm?

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A/N: Review? Please. I'm on my knees.


	9. Most Informative

Chapter 8- Most Informative

Ginny followed the man down a back alley, covered in magical graffiti which flashed and glittered and changed its message. He kept walking until he reached an old bin which stunk of mouldy food and dead animals. He gestured to her to grab the handle and, although the smell made her retch, she did. Suddenly she felt the ground disappear from under her feet and she was spinning through the air, still holding the handle of the bin. They came to a sudden stop in a field, just at the outside of a forest.

"Hello?" Yelled the man she was with.

She was beginning to feel a bit worried. Through the alcohol induced haze she had realised that she had no clue where she was or who she was with and she didn't know how to get back.

"Where are we?" She said. Panic started to show in her voice.

"You will see." The man smiled but it wasn't a real smile. It was a smile that said 'Where do you think you silly girl?' and scared her into silence.

She was trying to think of the best way out when another figure emerged from the forest. The new man didn't say a word. He waved his arm for them to follow and the man with Ginny grabbed her arm, digging his fingers in so it hurt, and dragged her with him. They came to a halt in a dark clearing. She could vaguely make out the shapes of about eight other figures, gathered in a ring around them.

"Who is this?" A voice spoke from by one of the trees. His voice was low and hissing. The man next to Ginny began to tremble but his voice stayed steady.

"Please my lord. I found her in Hogsmeade. She knows Harry Potter."

"I see… And she has information for us?"

"Yes. Yes my lord."

The man walked out from under the shadow of the tree. His robes, unlike those of the other men, were green with a silver snake coiled up them.

"And who are you child?"

Ginny shook and tried to back away.

"Come on girl, talk to me. You can trust me… Who are you?"

Ginny didn't want to say anything but the voice sounded so kind, caring…

"M-my name is Ginny… G-Ginny Weasley."

"Ah, Miss Weasley. And what brings you here?"

"He brought me. Where am I?"

The man in the green robes ignored her question.

"My… associate tells me you have information for me. What would that be?"

"I don't… I don't know what you mean. Please, let me leave."

"You know Mr Potter?"

"Y-yes."

The man came closer and she let out a gasp when she saw his face.

"I won't help you."

"Relax Ginny, I won't hurt you. I promise. I just want you to tell me what you know about Harry Potter."

"I don't know anything!"

"Don't lie to me Miss Weasley. I always know. Why not tell me? After all, he hasn't treated you well has he? I would never treat you that way. Help me and I will reward you. You will be safe and my followers will take care of you. Why not tell me?"

Ginny looked at the man in front of her. His face was twisted and ugly and he hardly even looked human. She had always been sure she wouldn't help Lord Voldemort but… he seemed so honest. Maybe she had been wrong about him before. And his voice was so nice…

"He said something about a wand… Ravenclaw's wand. He was looking for it."

Voldemort smiled evilly.

"Yes that makes sense. He would think… Yes…" He smiled again at Ginny. "Anything else?"

"Well he said something before about a locket. I heard him talk to Sirius about it."

This time the expression on Voldemort's face was very different.

"He found it! But how?!"

"I don't know what…"

"Who is this Sirius man?"

"Sirius Black. Harry brought him back to help find something. I don't know what's going on. That was all I heard."

"Black… but he was dead. That's impossible, it's…" He trailed off and faced Ginny.

"Thank you Miss Weasley, you have been most informative. I would love to see you again… maybe you could meet one of my men at the Three Broomsticks this time next week?" Ginny nodded numbly and the man who had found her took her away, back to the port-key. Voldemort pulled one of his men aside.

"I am not particularly worried. He still has quite a way to go. But I want you to get some of our best people ready. For when the time comes. You understand?"

The man nodded and went back to his place.

Ginny didn't get back to HQ until the early hours of the next morning but no one had noticed she'd been away. Harry was already up, organising things for the time while he was away but he didn't acknowledge her presence. She went back to her room and tried to sleep through the headache that was starting to come on.

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	10. Pillow Fight

Pillow Fight

This time Harry left very early in attempt to get out quickly and avoid the rush of everyone arriving. He said good-bye to Fred and Estrella in Hogsmeade and apparated with Sirius to a small road off Diagon Alley. He wasn't sure exactly where Ollivander's house was, just that it was somewhere near by. As a result of this, him and Sirius were still wandering around an hour later, not entirely sure where they were or where they were going.

"Are you SURE it's around here? 'Cause it doesn't look like there's any houses…" Sirius was right. They were standing a couple of miles outside Diagon Alley and all they could see was a motorway, two trees and an abandoned pick-up truck. Hardly any people and definitely no houses.

"I am sure that we are within 10 miles of it. That's better than nothing." Sirius didn't look convinced that it was better at all but he decided to keep his mouth shut and let Harry get on with guessing the next spot.

"Ok, let's go… That way." Harry pointed in the direction of one the trees. Sirius was beginning to think he was just making up the directions as he went along and he was beginning to get hungry.

"Harry, can we stop and eat before you make up some more directions?"

Harry frowned.

"I am not making up directions!"

"Whatever, we are lost and I'm hungry. Pleeeease can we stop for a while?"

"Fine. But I'm not making it up." Sirius looked sceptical. "Really, I'm not… it's more like… an educated guess."

Sirius groaned. They were never going to get there. He didn't say anything though. He was too busy eating the chicken he had just conjured. Harry was loking at him with an amused expression on his face.

"Wha'?" He said, spraying chicken everywhere.

"You are disgusting." Sirius looked very insulted.

"I am not! I will have you know that I am a very charming person with brilliant manners." Harry stared pointedly at a piece of chicken which had just fallen on his robes, almost as if it was trying to make a point…

"Of course you are. Come on I think I've worked out where we're going." He pulled Sirius to his feet and began to walk away. Sirius followed after him.

"Oi! Don't you use that sarcastic tone with me!"

"Ok Sirius."

"I mean it! I am not disgusting."

"Ok."

"Stop it!"

"Stop what? I agreed didn't I?"

"Yeah but you didn't sound like you meant it."

Harry rolled his eyes. Sirius was about to launch into a long speech about sarcasm and how he wasn't disgusting when they stopped in front of an old house.

"Told you I wasn't making it up."

Sirius scowled at him but didn't say anything. He didn't like to be wrong.

The house was on it's own in the middle of a field and it looked like it was about to fall down. Harry didn't feel hugely confident about entering but he had seen enough wizards' houses to know that they didn't fall down as easily as you would think… However, this one look like it might just be held up by prayers and possibly some crazy glue… The door was boarded up but all the windows were open so it wasn't overly difficult for the two men to get in although Sirius did manage to catch his foot on the window sill and fall in a heap on the floor by Harry. Harry found this a lot funnier than he did.

"Ok," said Harry through his laughter. "You search in here first and I'll go next door. You know what it looks like." Sirius was left on his own to rub his sore back.

He rooted around in some cupboards and on the shelves but he had no luck and he wasn't surprised. He didn't really think Ollivander would keep Ravenclaw's wand in his kitchen. Eventually he gave up and went to find Harry in the next room.

"Harry, I'm going to go in a different room. S'not in…" He trailed off when he realised he was speaking to an empty room.

"Harry?" There was no reply. He spun round frantically and rushed out of the room.

"Harry! Where are you?" He yelled. When there was no reply he got more and more frantic. What if something had happened to him? What if in the time Sirius had been searching the kitchen someone had attacked Harry? What if…

He was cut off in the middle of his panicked thoughts by Harry walking out into the corridor.

"I'm here. What's wrong?"

Sirius tried to calm his breathing down.

"Sirius, what happened?"

"Where were you? You said you'd be next door!"

"I was next door." Harry pointed to the door he had just come out of, on the other side of the kitchen door.

"Oh… There're two next doors. Well you could've been clearer!"

"Silly me, for some reason I thought you had enough sense to check both next doors before you started to panic." Sirius shifted uncomfortably. He was right, he should've checked.

"I didn't panic."

Harry rolled his eyes for what must've been the tenth time that day.

"Sure you didn't. Can we get back to searching now?" Sirius nodded sulkily and they separated again. They were still searching when it got dark.

"Harry, it's not here. We should go back."

"No, we haven't searched enough and I haven't had a message from the others. It might be here."

Sirius sighed resignedly.

"Ok, we'll stay. But we are going to have a rest first. You don't rest nearly enough these days."

Harry didn't want to stop but he could see Sirius wasn't going to change his mind. So they sat down on an old couch in the first room Harry had searched.

They just sat for a while but it wasn't long before Sirius got bored.

"You want to play a game?" He bounced round to face Harry and the couch springs gave a nasty squeak.

"What kind of game?"

"It's not scary or disgusting or anything," said Sirius, seeing the worried look on Harry's face. "I ask you which one you would prefer out of two things and you pick one. Then you can ask."

Harry didn't look like he thought this was a great idea but Sirius seemed to want to so he agreed.

"Right," Sirius fished around his mind for a question. "Would you rather… become a Death Eater or… eat me?" Harry grinned.

"Eat you."

Sirius faked a put out expression.

"That didn't take very long to decide!"

"My turn. Would you rather go back to Azkaban or eat me?"

"Hey! You can't nick my question!"

"I didn't. And you have to answer."

"I would go back to Azkaban."

Harry looked stunned.

"Really?"

"Yeah course."

"I feel bad now. Maybe I shouldn't have eaten you."

"Well it was very nice really. It hurt a bit and my hair's never been as shiny since."

Harry smacked Sirius' head with one of the pillows he was sitting on. Sirius' sat completely still with a look of shock on his face for a moment before grabbing his own pillow and hitting him back.

They kept hitting each other with the pillows until Sirius pinned Harry down on the couch and Harry was laughing so much he could hardly breathe.

"Please. Stop… Can't. Breathe…"

"Never take on the master Mr Potter. No one beats me at pillow fights."

Harry tried to sit up but Sirius was in the way so he just crashed into him and landed on his back again. Sirius laughed and went to help him up but when he looked at him he stopped laughing straight away.

He looked so different when he was smiling. His whole face lit up and his eyes shined like they used to when he was younger. He looked beautiful. He had been back with Harry for what felt like forever now but he had only just realised how different he looked. He didn't look like James anymore. Well, he did a bit… but only in a father/son way, not in the weird clone-like way he had before. He was so lost in his thoughts that he didn't realise he was staring.

"Sirius, you ok?"

"What? Oh… yeah, yeah I'm fine. I just… We should get back to searching."

Harry didn't look like he really wanted to but he stood up anyway.

"Yeah, ok. I'll go back upstairs." Sirius watched him walk away and wished he hadn't said anything.

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A/N: Review! Pretty please…


	11. I Have To Make It End

I Have To Make It End

A tall thin man paced in front of another man. This one shorter, hunched and balding and trembling with fear.

"Wormtail, I thought I had seen the limit to your idiocy before but you have outdone yourself this time. Congratulations." Voldemort clapped his hands slowly, sarcastically. Wormtail took an involuntary gulp of air as he anticipated what he knew was coming.

"I give you one job, one simple task, that I thought not even you could find to difficult and you didn't manage it. I am curious, how does your body function on such limited mental capacity?"

"I'm s-sorry master. I tried, I really… I would do anything to…"

"SILENCE! You have failed me again and now I will have to send someone else to clear up your mess. CRUCIO!"

Wormtail screamed in agony as his body was twisted and a hundred invisible knives stabbed into him.

"Luckily for you, it is not as disastrous as it could have been; Potter still hasn't found the others yet. But in future when I tell you to follow someone I expect you to do that."

"But master I did, I…"

"Don't lie to me Wormtail! If you had followed you would have alerted me when he found the locket. But you know that because you were not following my commands. My patience with you is beginning to fade Wormtail. Remember that."

Wormatil lay on the floor, gasping for breath and nodding.

"Yes master, yes, I'm sorry it won't happen again, I swear."

"It better not Wormtail. For your sake it better not. Severus, I will give you the job of teaching him his lesson. I have more pressing matters to attend to."

Voldemort spoke the last bit to the man standing next to him whose mask did not completely hide the glint of pleasure in his eyes.

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Sirius was brought out of a bored stupor, induced by hours of searching for something he was certain he wasn't going to find, by Harry poking his head around the door.

"I just got a message from Fred. They found it. We can go." Then he disappeared again. Sirius got up, brushed dust off his robes and went to meet him.

"Ready?" Sirius nodded and they both disappeared with a 'crack'.

Fred and Estrella were waiting for them with the wand. Harry took it and turned it over slowly in his hands. It looked pretty much the same as the picture but slightly more scratched. The outside was glass and there was a vein of silvery liquid through the middle and it glinted prettily in the light. He waved it and blue and silver sparks flew out of it, falling like rain onto the floor. He nodded and turned silently to take it to the room where he had worked on the locket. The others watched him go. Sirius thought about going to help but decided against it. He would go later, when he was feeling slightly less awkward and flushed…

Harry sat on the floor and placed the wand in front of him. Something wasn't right about it. The locket had been heavy and felt dark, like there was an evil cloud surrounding it. The wand… it wasn't like that. It was nice to look at and light to hold and there didn't seem to be anything dark about it at all. He pushed these thoughts out of his head and started to work on breaking it. Then he discovered the next thing that made it different from the locket.

He expected to spend ages trying to break the glass. He was sure it would be enchanted in some way, but it shattered it to a million pieces when he dropped it on the floor and no shadow came out of it like it had done when he opened the locket. He buried his head in his hands and sat there, unmoving, until the door opened.

"Doing ok?" Sirius had decided that Harry had been working for long enough and as the odd, unexplained, flushed feeling from earlier had worn off he had decided to go and check on him. When he didn't answer he walked a bit further into the room.

"Harry?"

"It's not it."

"What?"

"It's not the horcrux. I'm going to have to go back and think of something else." Realisation dawned on Sirius.

"Harry, you don't have to work it out right this minute. You're working too hard. You can do it later, or tomorrow, we can all help you."

"No Sirius. I have to do it now." Harry snapped. Sirius took a step back at the coldness in his voice. "I have to do it as soon as I can. I can't get distracted."

"You have to stop sometimes. You're wearing yourself out. Why won't you let me help? You need to trust us or we're never going to get through this…"  
"Leave me alone Sirius I need to think."

"No. I'm not leaving I'm worried about you."

"Well don't be. I'm fine."

Sirius could tell by his voice and the look on his face that he wasn't but he didn't want to press it. He just stood where he was and waited. Harry buried his head again and acted like Sirius wasn't there but it wasn't long before he spoke again. This time his voice was so quiet Sirius could barely hear it.

"I have to do it. I have to make it end." Sirius crossed the room and sat on the floor in front of him and covered the other man's pale hands with his own. As he touched him he felt the same odd sensation he had earlier but he ignored it.

"You can't do everything at once Harry. And you need to trust people to help you. Have a break. Talk to Ron and Hermione, they're missing you. Then we can come back up here and I'll help you work on it. Ok?"

Harry nodded and let Sirius help him to his feet.

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A/N: Review and I will love you forever (yes I know you don't care but please do it anyway)…


	12. Erised

Erised

Ginny's memory of the night 2 days before wasn't very clear but she still had most of the details and now her rage had died down and the alcohol had worn off she felt a huge wave of guilt wash over her.

One part of her mind was telling her she hadn't done anything wrong. She hadn't told him much and it was Harry's fault for ignoring her. After all, Voldemort had been a lot kinder to her than he had… But no matter how hard she tried to convince herself she knew she'd done a stupid thing. And now she would have to go back in a few days.

She considered just not going to the Three Broomsticks but she knew they would find her. Anyway, it wasn't like she HAD to tell him anything. She didn't really know anything more anyway. Once she said she didn't know anything else he would send her away and she could pretend it never happened. It would be ok.

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Harry stood outside the room where Ron and Hermione were talking. He wasn't often nervous but standing there, about to go in, he felt a definite fluttering feeling in his stomach. He pushed it away and knocked on the door. Ron answered.

"Come in."

He looked surprised to see Harry there.

"Hi. Er… can we talk?"

Ron and Hermione exchanged confused looks before nodding at him to sit down.

"Right. Well… I just came to say… Well I thought…" Harry took a deep breath as he tried to think what to say. He wasn't used to this kind of conversation.

"I just wanted to say, well, I'm sorry. I haven't treated you fairly and… yeah that's pretty much it."

Ron looked like Harry had just told him that bats were fish but Hermione managed to stutter out a reply.

"Oh… That's… Thanks. It's ok really. We know you've been under a lot of pressure and…" She gave up all efforts to make a suitable speech and just threw her arms around him grinning. When she pulled away Ron was smiling too and Harry was in shock.

"Have you seen Ginny? I should probably apologize to her too."

"I think she's still asleep."

"Oh, alright. I'll talk to her later then."

Hermione was still grinning.

"Harry?"

"Yeah.

"These objects you keep going for. Are you still looking for the horcruxes?"

"Yeah. We're doing pretty well… not there yet though."

"I thought so… Harry?"

"Yeah."

"We missed you."

"I missed you too."

After Hermione had hugged him again he left the room, feeling a lot happier than he had before he went in. He found Sirius again and they went back to the room with the wand and sat down to work on the next horcrux.

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Harry's good mood didn't last very long. After four more days of trying to work out what the next horcrux could be they still hadn't gotten anywhere. They had searched through books of old objects and not found anything belonging to either Gryffindor or Ravenclaw and Harry was getting more and more frustrated by the minute. Eventually he threw the book he was looking at on the floor.

"This is hopeless."

Sirius had been thinking the same thing for a while but he was stubborn and didn't want to admit they weren't getting anywhere.

"It might be in there somewhere."

Harry swung his arm to hit the back of Sirius' head but he moved too fast and he missed.

"It's not. We're going to have to think of something else."

"Ok… if you were a tiny bit of Voldemort's soul where would you go."

Harry groaned and flopped over so he was lying down staring at the ceiling.

"We're never going to find it. It's probably a teapot somewhere in Russia that's being used by some muggle who wonders why her tea always tastes like it went off 40 years ago."

"Nice to know you're keeping up a positive attitude about this."

"I'm just being realistic. It could be anything and it is very unlikely we are going to find it in one of these books."

"So what do you suggest?"

"I dunno. Let's take a break."

Sirius was so surprised that he nearly choked on his own tongue.

"Ok. Who are you and what have you done with Harry?"

"Shut up. Not a long break. And after that we can get back to working again."Sirius nodded.

"Sounds good."

Harry was still lying on the floor so Sirius lay down next to him.

"Did you talk to Ron and Hermione yet?"

"Yeah a couple of days ago. Haven't seen Ginny yet though. I think she's avoiding me."

Neither of them spoke for a while, both lost in their own thoughts.

"Do you still like her?"

Harry turned on his side to face Sirius with a confused look on his face.

"What do you mean?"

"Ginny. Do you still like her?"

Harry turned onto his back again and seemed to think for a while.

"I don't know. I did before but now I don't. Maybe when the war is over I will again… but I don't think so."

Sirius didn't say anything. He didn't know why but every time he thought of Harry and Ginny together he felt a sharp pain and he wanted to scream. It was very disconcerting and he was going to have to sort it out. What was even more concerning was that when Harry said he didn't like her he felt his heart jump joyfully in his chest even though he knew he should want them to be happy together.

"Would you rather eat your own finger or kiss Professor McGonagall?"

Harry blinked in surprise. This was such a random change in subject he almost didn't register what Sirius had said. He answered anyway.

"Kiss Professor McGonagall. I'm quite fond of my fingers."

"But still… That's the stuff of nightmares."

"Well, to be honest, neither of them would be what I want most in the…"

Harry trailed off and Sirius looked at him to see what was wrong. He was sitting upright with a triumphant look on his face.

"What?"

Harry didn't answer his question. He seemed to be in his own little world and muttered to himself in a way that Sirius didn't really understand.

"It was at Hogwarts so it could… Right under Dumbledore's nose… Maybe…"

"Harry, what are you talking about?"

"See if you can find anything in there about the Mirror of Erised. If I'm right it might have belonged to one of the founders. It could be the horcrux."

Sirius was going to ask what exactly the Mirror of Erised was but decided against it and leafed through one of the books.

"Here it is."

"Read it out…"

"Erised. Mirror of Desire. This mirror shows the heart's desire of the person who looks into it. The true mirror carries the inscription '_Erised stra ehru oyt ube cafru oyt on wohsi' 'I show not your face but your hearts desire'… _It doesn't say who made it."

"Well when I saw it it was at Hogwarts so it is likely it belonged to one of the founders and I think it would appeal to Voldemort to have a horcrux at Hogwarts…"

"Well then, that's good. We have a breakthrough."

"Yeah…"

Harry lay in an exhausted heap on the floor and Sirius laughed at him.

"I think this calls for a celebration."

Sirius ran out of the room and returned a couple of minutes later with a bottle of firewhiskey. Harry laughed.

"You're not supposed to be encouraging me to drink."

Sirius shrugged and smiled.

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A couple of hours and two bottles of firewhiskey later they were both feeling considerably happier than they had been for a while. Sirius, who had drunk a bit more than Harry, was finding it hard to string a sentence together and Harry had given up trying to sit upright because he just fell back down on his back.

"Y'know when this war thing is all finished we should get… a boat."

"Why a boat?"

"We could live in it."

"Why a boat?"

"I dunno. We could take Kreacher."

"Why take Kreacher? I don't like him."

"We could make him walk the plank."

Harry giggled. He wasn't completely sure what this conversation was about but Kreacher walking the plank seemed like a good plan.

"Ok. We can get a boat."

"Why a boat?"

"Sh'up it was your idea."

"Oh… Harry?"

Harry rolled onto his side to face Sirius.

"Yehuh?"

Sirius couldn't remember what he had wanted to say but he had a sudden urge to kiss Harry. There was a tiny bit of his brain telling him it was a bad idea but he wasn't sure why so he ignored it and did it anyway.

He wrapped his arms around Harry's waist and pressed their lips together, breathing him in and tasting him. It wasn't a long kiss but when Sirius pulled away it finally hit him what he had just done.

"Oh shit… I'm sorry… I didn't mean… I shouldn't have… I gotta go." He stumbled to his feet and out of the room before Harry could say anything. It wasn't until he got to his room that he realised that Harry had kissed him back.

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	13. More Information

A/N: This one's very short but it felt like it had to be its own chapter…

More Information

Ginny sat in the three broomsticks trying to push down the panic in her chest. There was a big part of her mind, the sane part, which told her to get up and run, but there was another part which seemed stronger that told her she had to finish what she had started. No matter how it turned out. She didn't even notice the Death Eater until he had his hand on her shoulder, trying to get her to follow him out. She stood up obediently and he led her to the same alley they had been in before.

With the drunken haze she'd been in before it looked dingier and more scary than the last time, or maybe that was just the fear making her see differently. She walked forwards in a daze and placed her hand on the portkey. She wasn't concentrating on lading so her legs buckled underneath her, leaving her in a heap on the floor. The Death Eater pulled her up by her arm.

It seemed to take hours to reach the clearing again but when they got there it looked exactly the same as in her memory. The voice of Lord Voldemort sounded out of the shadows and she couldn't believe she had ever thought he sounded kind.

"What information do you have for me girl?"

She gulped. There was only one answer to that. She had deliberately distanced herself from the rest of the DM over the last week and now she knew nothing new. She couldn't tell him anything. Even if she wanted to.

"I-I don't."

"You don't what?" He practically spat it out. She could hear the fury boiling in his voice.

"I don't know anything."

He stared into her eyes for a moment n a way that made her feel like he was digging through her thoughts. Eventually he spoke.

"I see. Then I have no further need for you."

"C-can I leave?"

For a minute she really believed he would let her go. She thought that she would leave and this would be over. Forgotten. But only for a minute.

He opened his mouth again but instead of words a low hissing came out. No one around her reacted. She looked around trying to work out what was happening. She tried to run as she saw the huge black snake sliding towards her but he had spelled her feet to the ground. He laughed his cold, rasping laugh as the snake slid over her feet and around her body. Squeezing tighter and tighter. It slowly slid up to her neck, still squeezing until she couldn't breath. She felt a sharp pain in her neck as it sunk its fangs into her and every bit of her body burned. As she fell limp in the snake's grip, the last sound she heard was that cold, high laugh.

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A/N: Please review… puppy eyes


	14. Confused

A/N: Thanks to the people who have reviewed so far. You rule! Here's the next bit…

Confused

Sirius was confused. In fact, he was beginning to think he was more confused than he had ever been before. And he'd had some pretty confusing times.

He had got up that morning prepared to dodge Harry for as long as possible in the hopes that he would forget about the little incident the night before. Well, he had managed to spend months in hiding from the Ministry of Magic but he only managed to avoid Harry for about five minutes after leaving his room. He had been fully prepared to be yelled at or ignored but Harry just smiled at him said something about a meeting and walked off. This was why he was confused.

He knew Harry couldn't have forgotten. He remembered very clearly and he was definitely the more drunk of the two. So why would Harry act like nothing had happened? He was pretty sure that most people would feel a bit awkward if their godfather suddenly kissed them. It was just one of those things that didn't happen every day.

He walked down to the main room in a kind of puzzled daze. When he got there the room was totally full and everyone's attention was focused on Harry, who was saying, once again, that he would be gone for a while. Sirius was puzzled at this. The way Harry was speaking sounded like he was intending on going away by himself but surely he wouldn't do that? Anything could happen. When he was done talking Sirius swallowed his nervousness and went to speak to him.

"So you're going to get the mirror?"

"Yeah." Harry was adjusting some papers on one of the desks and wouldn't meet his eyes.

"Alone?"

"Yeah, well I don' really need anyone do I? I know what I'm looking for and I know my way around Hogwarts. I'll be quicker alone." He didn't sound convinced but Sirius couldn't be sure as he was still refusing to look at him.

"But it's abandoned now. It's not safe for you to be on you own."

"I'll be fine Sirius. Now I'm sorry but I have to get some things ready." He swept past Sirius, up to his room. Sirius was beginning to think that maybe Harry hadn't forgotten about the kiss at all.

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Harry waited until it was dark before leaving. He slipped out of the door silently unaware of the other man following just behind him.

Sirius knew that there was no way he could convince Harry to let him come but he wasn't about to let him go alone. He had decided to follow in the shadows, just in case something came up. Most likely it wouldn't but he wanted to be there. Just in case.

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Wormtail was crouched behind a large rock. The space was cramped and it was made any better by the other Death Eater standing behind him, leaning over his shoulder, breathing in his ear all the time.

"Is that them?" Wormtail didn't answer. He didn't know and he didn't want to speak to the man more than necessary. This was a bad idea. He felt a sharp pain in his foot as his partner stamped on it.

"I said, is that him?"

"I think so."

"Well?"

"Well what?"

The man behind him sneered.

"Well what are you going to do? Just stand here? Follow him you fool!"

Wormtail swallowed his pride and nodded. He wanted to get through this without being crushed to dust.

"Yes, of course Severus."

The two men watched as Harry turned a corner and followed him.

"Is he alone?"

"I think so."

Snape sneered again. He seemed to do that a lot.

"Idiot boy. He always was arrogant. Thinking he could do everything himself. See where that's got him now."

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Harry wished he had brought his firebolt to get to the school. He had forgotten how long it took to walk the journey. He had been in a rush to get out of HQ and be alone but now he had got what he wanted and was completely on his own he would rather have been in HQ with everyone else. When it was so quiet he had too much time to think.

He was thinking about a lot of things. The first one was the night before and Sirius. He had been surprised when he'd kissed him. He hadn't liked it, of course he hadn't. He didn't think… He wasn't as sure as he wanted to be but he put the whole incident down to how drunk they were. Sirius hadn't known what he was doing. He probably didn't even remember or he would have mentioned it. He had been disappointed that Sirius hadn't brought it up… no he hadn't he was glad. It would have been awkward and he hadn't liked it. He hadn't liked it…

He was so busy convincing himself that he hadn't enjoyed kissing Sirius that he almost missed the turning for Hogwarts. Cursing under his breath he turned up the path and up to the main entrance vowing to keep his mind more firmly on the job.

There was a time when breaking into Hogwart's would have been almost impossible but now it had been deserted for years and all the old enchantments put in by Dumbledore were fading. It almost made Harry sad how little of a challenge it was.

It was weird to be back after so long. Especially now there were no people around. Everything seemed to echo around him. He had never realised how huge the castle was before. He pushed forward to try and find the mirror in a busy, efficient way, hoping that if he got buried enough in the job he would forget about the slight feeling in his stomach that was telling him he wished he'd brought someone with him. He was too stubborn to admit he'd been wrong and there was no way he was going to admit to anyone, even himself, that he was even the slightest bit nervous.

It didn't take long for him to find the mirror. For some reason it had been put back in the same room he had found it in first year. It was odd but he wasn't about to complain. It was about time he had some luck.

He paced around it. It seemed obvious that all he had to do was smash the mirror, that was easy enough, but that had to be more to it. He somehow didn't see Voldemort hiding a bit of his soul in something that could be destroyed if it fell over. As he paced he saw a piece of paper tucked into the back of the frame. He pulled it out and unfolded it. It had a couple of lines of loopy writing across it:

'Breaking a mirror 8 years bad luck'

He recognised the writing straight away; it was Dumbledore's. He cursed under his breath. Dumbledore had known about the Mirror before but hadn't told him He must have been working on it himself. Any other time Harry would have said he didn't believe in superstitious things like that but now didn't seem a great time to risk it and if Dumbledore had believed it… He couldn't break it himself. He looked up into the glass and almost jumped out of his skin when he saw someone standing just behind him.

"Sirius, what're you…?" He spun round and realised there was no one there. When he turned back Sirius was still looking back at him smiling. His heart rate settled slowly. He was very glad no one had been there to see that. Having comforted himself that he really was alone he stared into the mirror again.

The Sirius in the glass wrapped his arms around Harry's waist and rested his chin on his shoulder from behind, gazing at his face and smiling. Harry's hands reached down to his middle to touch the hands but all he felt was empty space. As hard as he tried to feel that what he was seeing was wrong he couldn't. How could something really be wrong when it felt so completely right? He was so lost in himself that he didn't notice the man standing by the door.

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A/N: Pretty please… because you love me? And I will give you cookies?? Please review!


	15. The Cupboard

The Cupboard

Wormtail was panting. He hadn't done any real exercise for a very long time and Snape seemed to insist on doing everything double speed.

The other man swept along like the overgrown bat he was snapping at him to keep up, taking endless pleasure in reminding him how useless he was and how, if it wasn't for his idiocy, he wouldn't be 'babysitting' him right now.

Wormtail had never liked Snape but in the last few hours that dislike had grown into a burning hate. He was more than happy when they reached the gates and Snape told him to wait outside for back-up.

"I'll be quicker alone and the sooner we get rid of the brat the better." With that he swept into the dark entrance hall and disappeared out of sight. Leaving Wormtail alone in the cold night. 

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Snape prided himself on knowing Hogwarts better than most people but as much as he hated to admit it, he had no idea where to look for Potter. He had to find him before back-up came or he would look pathetic. The others would never let him live it down- 'aw Snivellus couldn't catch the Potter brat. Must be getting old eh Snapey?' He cringed. He could almost hear their sneering voices. He was moving so fast down the corridors he was almost gliding and he was just passing a closed door when he heard a gasp of surprise and a muffled voice. He couldn't hear what the voice said but he assumed it was Potter. Who else would be wandering around a deserted school at night? He gently pushed the door open and peered round it and sneered as he saw Harry standing in front of the mirror. This was going to be easier than he thought. 

He slid around the door silently. He was surprised that Harry hadn't noticed. Maybe the kid wasn't as good as the Dark Lord thought. He pulled his wand out of his robe and Harry heard the sound. He spun round and pulled out his own wand. Snape grinned. He was going to enjoy this.

"Hello Potter. It's been a long time. Very peaceful without you."

Harry didn't answer but Snape could feel the hate radiating from him.

"Nothing to say Potter? How very unlike you. However, maybe you're right. We shouldn't waste time chatting. I came here to kill you."

"I'd like to see you try."

"Oh so it does have a voice! As arrogant as ever I see. No matter, we can put that right. Crucio!"

Harry was ready for it and dodged, narrowly avoiding knocking over the mirror.

"You can't avoid me forever Potter." Snape moved closer and swung his wand again but Harry jumped to the side. The curse missed him and hit the mirror instead, shattering the glass into a million pieces.

"You can't keep hiding behind things and hoping I give up. Come out and fight me Potter!"

Harry lifted his wand again but before the words could even come out of his mouth, Snape went rigid and fell to the floor. Sirius stood behind him with his wand out.

"I had that under control."

Sirius smiled.

"You're welcome Harry, no problem."

Harry ignored his sarcasm and turned to inspect the broken mirror.

"I guess breaking a mirror really is bad luck. How did you find me?"

"I followed." Sirius looked a bit sheepish. "We can't hang around here. Wormtail's outside with a group of them. We need to get out."

Harry nodded in agreement and they ran down the stairs towards the main doors. They only turned a couple of corners when they heard running footsteps coming towards them. Sirius grabbed Harry's wrist and turned back down the corridor. The next thing Harry knew he was being pushed through a seemingly bare wall into some kind of cupboard.

"Where are we?"

Sirius looked quickly through the crack between the doors before answering.

"It's a cupboard."

Harry rolled his eyes impatiently.

"I can see that. I meant- How come we are in a cupboard when there wasn't a cupboard before?"

Sirius grinned in the irritating way he always did when he knew something someone else didn't.

"Ah you see that is the beauty of this particular cupboard. You can only see it if you know it's there."

"Clever."

"Indeed."

As the adrenaline brought on by nearly being caught wore off an awkward silence came over the two. When Sirius thought he finally couldn't take it anymore he spoke.

"Harry, about last night…"

"What about last night?"

"You're not going to make this easy are you?"

"Nope."

"Right, well, last night. I'm sorry if… if I freaked you out. I didn't mean to…" Sirius trailed off when he noticed that Harry was looking at his feet.

"You ok?"

"Yeah I guess, it's just… never mind it's stupid."

"No tell me."

"Ok, well… You said you didn't mean to. Does that mean you didn't mean to freak me out or you didn't want to kiss me?"

"I… I don't know I just…" Sirius stumbled over his words, trying to find an answer that wasn't a lie.

"'Cos I didn't mind. I quite liked it I guess. Unless you didn't mean it in which case it was wrong and horrible and I didn't just say that."

"I… no, I meant it but… you mean you aren't disgusted and you don't hate me?"

"No."

Sirius' face lit up and he threw his arms around Harry and somehow their lips connected again. Harry smiled against Sirius' mouth and pressed harder against him, feeling the other man's tongue brush against his own. Sirius' lips were soft and he could feel his warm, rough hands trailing over his back. Harry remembered the image in the mirror. If that had seemed right, this was perfect.

They broke apart at the sound of voice in the corridor outside the cupboard.

"Where did they go?"

"I dunno, I'll go this way. You search downstairs."

They watched through the crack between the doors as one of the men disappeared round a corner. 

"I'll search around here," said a squeaky voice they both recognized. 

Wormtail's partner muttered something that contained the word 'coward' and vanished down the stairs. Wormtail turned around and stared right at their cupboard.

"Shit. He can see it." 

Harry suddenly remembered that Wormtail had been at school with Sirius. Of course he would know about the cupboard.

"What do we do?"

"We can't do anything. We just hope he doesn't look."

oxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

A/N: And review?


	16. Close

A/N: This chapter is hugely unsatisfactory to me but for some reason it was impossible to write so I decided I should just write it and post, even if it wasn't good, instead of getting more and more stuck and never posting at all. I will try and get the next bit up quicker.

Close

Wormtail looked towards the old cupboard. He knew they were in there. He knew Sirius. He always used to hide in that cupboard and he saw no reason why that should have changed. All he had to do was tell the others and the Dark Lord would honour him over all of his other servants. He would be the one who gave his Harry Potter AND Sirius Black. That put Snape's achievements to shame.

Somehow that still didn't make him feel good about what he had to do. Still thinking about what the Dark Lord would do for him, still reassuring himself, he walked towards the cupboard. A part of him hoped he was wrong and they weren't in there. He wasn't sure why. He was fine without his old 'friends'. He had picked the winning side and one day they would be sorry they hadn't seen that from the start. But for some reason, being on the losing side had always felt less lonely. He had never felt so dirty and guilty in his life as he had these last few months and he wasn't even being well rewarded for him. He had helped the Dark Lord return and he got treated like dirt. He spent a lot of time feeling sorry for himself. Mostly because now there was no one else to feel sorry for him.

oxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

Harry shifted so he could see Wormtail through the gap. He took a sharp breath as he saw him heading straight towards them.

"He knows."

Sirius nodded and linked his fingers with Harry's. Harry squeezed his hand with a grim look on his face. He couldn't believe this. He had destroyed the last horcrux and he was with Sirius and just when things had started to go well, he got trapped in a cupboard in a school with 12 Death Eaters who were about to kill him. Yes, that sounded more like his luck.

Wormtail had reached the cupboard. His face was twisted in an expression that looked like pain and his eyes were half closed. He seemed to be muttering something under his breath. He opened the door a tiny bit. For one short moment Harry was sure their eyes met and he was preparing himself to run when Wormtail closed the door again and left the room. Harry was expecting to hear him yell for the others but he heard nothing.

"What happened? Is he still here?"

"N-no."

"Well where did he go?"

"I don't know… he just… left."

They sat in silence for a moment trying to understand what could possibly have happened.

"We should get out of here. Before one of them comes back."

Sirius pulled Harry out of the cupboard by his hand, which was still linked with his own, and they sped down the stairs to the entrance hall.

They carried on running until they reached the edge of the grounds and then, thoroughly out of breath, they stopped.

Sirius leant on the gate to get his breath back. They said nothing for a while, only their panting breaths filling the silence.

"What was that?"

Sirius didn't look at Harry or answer his question. He just carried on breathing and looking at the ground as if it was suddenly the most interesting thing in the world.

"Sirius, listen to me."

"I don't know. I don't know anymore than you do. Maybe he didn't see us."

"He saw us, I know he did."

"Well I don't know. How should I know how that rat thinks?"

"He could have turned us in Sirius."

"And? He got cold feet. That doesn't make him any less evil or any less of a wretched coward. We were lucky. Now can we just forget about him?"

Sirius practically spat out his last words and Harry almost backed away in surprise. He sounded like a totally different person.

Sirius saw the shock in his face and sighed.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to… we're safe now. That's the important thing. It doesn't matter why."

Harry disagreed but he didn't want to get Sirius angry again so he didn't say anything. Sirius wrapped his arms around Harry's waist and kissed his head.

"We should get back, tell the others what happened."

Harry nodded and laced his fingers with Sirius' and they headed back to HQ in silence.

oxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

A/N: Not only is it bad, it is also short. I promise the next one will be better. Please review anyway, your comments make me smile.


	17. Prepare

A/N: Sorry it's been so long I really am trying to be faster.

Went to see HP-5 at the cinema yesterday. It wasn't as good as I thought it would be. The bit with Umbridge was good but apart from that… the book was definitely a lot better. Anyway, on with the story…

Prepare

Harry and Sirius expected to be able to slip in unnoticed. At this time of day everyone was usually working on something or other and was too busy to notice other people around them. For this reason they were very surprised when Fred and George ambushed a minute after they walked through the door.

"Ginny's gone, we can't find her anywhere."

Harry looked blank. After everything in the castle he had almost forgotten that he was supposed to be in charge and know what he was doing. After a moment though, he regained himself and replied.

"How long has she been gone?"

"She went out last night and didn't come back."

Harry quickly went over all the places she might have gone in his head but soon realised he didn't know Ginny well enough to have any real clue anymore.

"Where have you checked?"

"In the village, Diagon Alley, around the caves… We even phoned home to see if she'd gone back. There's no sign of her anywhere."

"Did you ask anyone?"

Now it was everyone else's turn to look blank. Harry groaned.

"Did you ask anyone if they had seen her? Please tell me you thought of that."

Fred and George shifted awkwardly between their feet.

"Well… no. We were in a rush. We were worried."

"Well go back and ask people then."

They ran off to search again leaving Harry and Sirius alone. Sirius saw the concerned look on Harry's face and squeezed his hand.

"Don't worry. She'll be fine."

Harry said nothing. He was still feeling a bit awkward after Sirius' explosion earlier so he just nodded and let go of Sirius' hand, heading into the main room to check up on the others.

The second he walked in everyone's heads snapped up to hear what he had to say. They had known that whatever he had gone to do was important. They weren't disappointed.

"Tomorrow morning we will set off to find the Death Eaters. Estrella, Wood I want you to gather the others and meet us here." He jabbed at a map on the wall with his wand and a fiery circle appeared around one point, disappearing only a few seconds later. "Everyone must be ready. We cannot afford to mess this up." Saying no more, he left them to talk amongst themselves. He could hear their panicked voices through the door as he leant against the other side, breathing heavily. He knew they had to go as soon as possible. He couldn't give Voldemort too much time to gather his supporters and if they weren't ready now they never would be… But he was still scared. Everything came down to this. He didn't like the thought that by this time the next day he would probably be dead.

oxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

A/N: review!!


	18. More Cupboards

A/N: Here's a nice slightly pointless chapter for you. A bit longer than the last one I think.

This will be my last update for a little while because I'm going away but I will try and write more as soon as I come back. Love you all anyone who has actually been bothered to read this far…

More Cupboards

Sirius watched Harry that afternoon as he bustled around handing out extra weapons and potions and checking that everyone still remembered all the spells h had taught them. He had to admit, the amount of magic Harry knew was very impressive, almost scary. He watched him trying as hard as he could to stay calm when things went wrong. The DM was an impressive organisation, no doubt about it. They made the old Order of the Phoenix look like amateurs and Sirius had always thought they were good. He had to admire the way Harry had pulled it all together. He wanted to be sure that no one stood a chance against them. He would believe it only he knew that Harry wasn't as confident as he should have been, and that made him worry.

He waited until Harry left the room to fetch something and followed him up the stairs silently. He followed the other man into one of the supply rooms and shut the door quietly behind him. Harry grabbed whatever it was he had been looking for and turned around, nearly jumping out of his skin when he saw Sirius there.

"What the hell?! You scared me."

"I know. I need to talk to you."

"Can't it wait? I'm really busy right now."

"No it can't."

Harry sat down on one of the boxes by his feet, never taking his eyes off Sirius and waited for him to speak. Sirius tried to find the words for what he wanted to say.

"What are you so worried about?"

Harry looked confused.

"What do you mean?"

"You aren't fooling me Harry. I watched you walked around in there with a look on your face like the world was about to end. You're worried about something and I want to know what it is?"

"It's a big fight tomorrow Sirius, I just want to make sure we're ready."

"Your group are amazing. You can do magic I've never seen before and I know some of the Death Eaters are no more than average. Voldemort isn't immortal anymore. He's just a man like us even if he is strong. But still you're sure you're going to lose, I can see it in your eyes."

Harry just looked at Sirius for a while. He knew he was right. The DM had come so far and most of the Death Eaters would be no problem. He wasn't sure he could take Voldemort but he had a good chance, he had to try. But there was another problem.

"That may be true Sirius but tomorrow will be different from before. The Death Eaters aren't afraid to kill, most of them enjoy it. I'm not sure my people are capable of doing that and if they don't then I am afraid they will die."

Sirius was about to tell Harry he was being stupid but then he stopped to think about it. He could see how Harry might have a point. He had seen himself how ruthless the Death Eaters could be.

"They need you to believe in them Harry. Otherwise they have no chance. Don't think about all this stuff."

He pulled Harry off his box by his wrists and wrapped his arms around him tightly. Harry returned the hug gratefully and rested his head against Sirius shoulder, trying to do as he was told and stop thinking. Sirius, however, couldn't stop thinking. He hadn't been particularly worried until now but seeing how nervous Harry was was starting to make him realise how likely it was that he might lose him. He was so deep in thought that he didn't realise he was almost crushing Harry until he heard Harry squeaking at him to let go.

"Sorry." He apologised and hastily let go.

Harry looked amused and smirked at his flustered face. Sirius tried to cover up his slight embarrassment by leaning in and kissing his lips, figuring he couldn't smirk as easily that way. When Harry tried to pull away so he could ask what Sirius had been thinking about before Sirius just wrapped his arms around his waist and held him still, eventually Harry gave up and kissed him back wrapping his arms around Sirius' neck and pulling him as close as he could get.

Sirius tried to taste as much of Harry's mouth with his tongue as he could before moving on to kiss the rest of his face and down his neck. It had occurred to him that this may be the last time they had alone before the fight and he was going to make the most of it, even if they were in a storage cupboard.

Harry closed his eyes and moaned as Sirius bit a sensitive part on his neck and the noise made Sirius grin and repeat the action. One he was sure he had covered every inch of the other man's face with kisses; he returned his attention to his lips, their kisses getting more and more heated. Harry let his hands roam under Sirius' shirt as Sirius reached to undo the zipper of Harry's jeans. It was at this moment that they were interrupted by someone knocking on the other side of the door. Sirius pulled away with a groan.

"What is it?" Yelled Harry, sounding more than a little pissed off.

"I was just wondering if you had found that healing potion, only you've been in there for a while, we were worried you'd fallen or something." The voice yelled back. Sirius didn't know who owned the voice but he definitely didn't like them.

Harry looked at the floor where the broken potion bottle lay; he couldn't remember when he had dropped it. He fished around on the shelf for another one.

"Yeah I have it here; I'll be out in a second." He smiled apologetically at Sirius and kissed his cheek quickly before exiting the cupboard. Sirius followed shortly after determined to find out who had knocked and curse them into oblivion as soon as they were done with this war thing.

oxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

A/N: Review please big puppy eyes… I'll give you cookies… and pixie sticks… I mean you gotta love pixie sticks right?


	19. When Things Go Wrong

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A/N: well, I seem to be doing a lot of apologising for very late updates recently but I'm sorry. I didn't abandon it though, see there's more down there. Forgive me? You know you want to…

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When Things Go Wrong

The next morning came and things were already starting to go wrong, Harry felt like he was about to explode with the pressure.

The first problem was the most worrying.

Estrella and Oliver had said they would contact Harry before sunrise that morning, to tell him who they had managed to find and confirm they could get to the meeting spot. Two hours after sunrise and they still hadn't phoned.

Needless to say this didn't do much for anyone's confidence.

Harry paced around his room upstairs trying to think of any reason they might not have contacted him other than they had been caught and murdered. He really couldn't think of as many as he would like. He really didn't like the idea of going in with so few people when he wasn't sure there would be anymore coming. It made the whole thing much more difficult.

The second was Ginny.

Ron, Hermione and the twins had searched for her pretty much everywhere they could think of with no success. All of them but Hermione refused to accept the possibility that the Death Eaters might have her and wanted to stay a bit longer to keep looking.

Harry wanted to go as soon as possible. On top of not wanting to give Voldemort time he was pretty sure that if Voldemort had Ginny, which seemed likely, then he would know where they were which could never be good.

He was pretty sure Fred and George were almost convinced that it would be worth taking care of Voldemort first but Ron was not budging, which was definitely not good for morale.

As Harry sat on his bed, trying to concentrate on everything else, Sirius poked his head round the door.

"Everyone's asking when we're leaving. What should I tell them?" He looked at Harry's frowning face and decided it probably wasn't the best time to be asking him questions.

He walked over to the bed and sat beside Harry.

"You know, when this is all over, I think we should move out of here. Living in a cave is never good for your mood. No matter how nicely decorated it is."

Harry didn't reply so he kept talking.

"Unless you don't want to live with me. You're probably sick of me by now, but you know, it could be nice. We can think about that after, yeah? Loads of time then."

Harry tried to smile but he felt like the edges of his mouth were weighed down so he just nodded.

"Yeah, loads of time. Tell everyone to be ready in ten minutes. Tell Ron if he doesn't want to come he can stay behind. We can't wait any longer."

Sirius nodded and squeezed his hand before getting up to leave. He stopped at the door and opened his mouth to speak but all that came out was an odd croaking sound so he just shook his head and left.

Harry picked up his wand and looked around the room quickly before following him.

* * *

On the way to the meeting point Harry hardly spoke at all, preferring to concentrate his energy on the task to come. The cloaked figures following him were just as silent, his sombre mood leaking into them as well.

Sirius watched Harry from behind as if by staring at the back of his head for long enough he could somehow break into his thoughts. Needless to say he didn't succeed.

The meeting place turned out to be a small, abandoned house which had completely collapsed on one side. They didn't go in, which Sirius thought was probably a good idea as it looked like it might crumble at any minute, but instead waited outside it by an old wooden shed.

Harry paced backwards and forwards along one side of the shed before stopping, looking around and continuing his pacing. They waited for two hours and there was still no sign of the others and no matter how hard they all tried to pretend, they were all beginning to panic.

When the communicator in Harry's pocket finally began to buzz, everyone jumped at the alien sound. Harry slowly lifted it to his ear.

"Estrella?"

"Give up Potter, they're not coming. We've got them."

"Who is this?"

"Now why would I tell you that?" The voice on the other end of the line sniggered. "Clearly you're not as smart as everyone thinks. You have a choice: come down and face us anyway or give up and leave. If I was you I'd go for the latter. Just some friendly advice for you."

Harry wished the person speaking was in front of him. He wouldn't bother with wands; he would just throttle him with his bare hands. He didn't satisfy the man with an answer but instead turned of the communicator and turned to the others.

"The others can't meet us here. We will go on without them."

Without further explanation he set up the portkeys which were set to take them just by where he knew Voldemort was with his Death Eaters. The rest of the DM wanted to know what had happened but they all knew better than to question Harry when he got that look on his face. Sirius caught his eyes questioningly but Harry just looked away and busied himself getting everyone to the portkeys. As his vision began to blur and his stomach was jerked upwards, Harry tried to stop himself thinking about his friends and what was going to happen to them all.

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A/N: Sorry if it was crap. Please review. Makes me write faster. Otherwise I just forget.


	20. The Snake

A/N: Long chapter here for you. Nearly done…ish.

The Snake

"Well this place is erm… cheerful."

Sirius' sarcasm lightened the mood a little as they looked around them at the dark trees. Only very little though.

Everyone jumped about a foot in the air every time something rustled or breathed and by the time Harry had led them to the clearing in the middle of the forest they were all nervous wrecks.

Harry couldn't see anyone else but he knew they were there. He checked to make sure everyone was ready to defend themselves. They were shaky but they all had their wand out ready. Sirius was standing by his side, too busy watching Harry to make sure he was ok to check around him for hidden Death Eaters.

"Right, the plan is pretty simple." Harry spoke so quietly that the group had to lean in to hear him. "Follow me in formation; make sure you keep a look out for death eaters. When I give the sign we will stop and I will send you in different directions. Just try and take out as many people as you can. There are a few things I need to do but when I'm done I will send sparks up and we meet back here. Got it?"

There was a collective nod and everyone in the group tried to appear confident as they followed Harry further into the darkness of the trees, their wands held out in front of them, twitching every time they heard a sound. With every step they took it seemed to get darker and the trees seemed to close in further, as if trying to trap them in. When they reached a place where there was enough space for them to group up again Harry held up his hand and silently split them into groups, sending each one in a different directions until there was only five people left. He hesitated for a second before pulling Sirius to one side and sending the other four away. He knew that Sirius would object if he tried to go alone and if he was honest he didn't really want to wander the forest by himself.

"I assume we're looking for the snake then."

"Yes but there's something else too." Sirius looked curious but didn't interrupt; he knew how important it was that they moved fast. "The Death Eaters or Voldemort himself have Estrella and Oliver and maybe some others if they managed to reach them before the Death Eaters caught them. I want to find them first and see if Ginny's with them. If we find them alive they will be able to help and… I can't just leave them. Not if they might still be alive."

Sirius nodded and squeezed Harry's hand. He knew it was very likely that they were already dead; Voldemort didn't make a habit of setting people up in five-star hotels after he'd finished squeezing them for information. Harry glanced around quickly before deciding on a direction and leading Sirius deeper still into the forest.

* * *

Voldemort had picked wisely when choosing the forest as his base. Harry knew the Death Eaters would meet and operate somewhere near the centre where they would be most concealed and hardest to find but the whole expanse of trees began to look exactly the same very quickly and he had no idea which direction he should head from where he was which was very inconvenient. He didn't like the idea that he would never find it and would wander around the forest indefinitely and he definitely didn't like the idea that in his wanderings he may accidentally wander into the spot where the Death Eaters were hiding without noticing and be blown up before he even had a chance to do anything about Voldemort.

Fortunately luck seemed to be on his side for once and as they passed a huge oak that Harry was sure they had already passed at least three time, Sirius pulled him to the side behind another tree just as a lone figure wearing Death Eater robes walked past.

They crept after him, careful not to break any twigs or even breathe too loudly for fear of alerting the stranger of their presence. After only a few minutes the man, or woman, disappeared through a gap in the trees and they heard low voices. They glanced at each other nervously before creeping up to the gap and peering round.

On the other side of the trees there was another clearing; much like the one they had been in before but much bigger. It was almost deserted apart from five figures in dark robes and three motionless bodies leaning against a tree near to where Harry and Sirius were standing. Harry took a sharp breath when one of them groaned only to be silenced by a kick from one of the Death Eaters. He was sure that was Estrella and Oliver and maybe Ginny. Alive then. That was definitely a plus, even if they might not stay that way for long.

He glanced around quickly, checking that he hadn't missed anyone, before sliding into the clearing, making sure to keep to the shadows so he wouldn't be spotted. He felt Sirius try and grab his wrist to pull him back but he kept going, closer to where he could see the group of three. When he got close enough he crouched by another tree feeling Sirius copy his movements beside him.

"I hope you have a plan other than getting us killed."

Harry nodded, hoping it was reassuring, when really he had no clue. So far his only plan consisted of knocking the Death Eaters out as quickly as possible, grabbing the others and running. He fished around in his brain for a couple more seconds before deciding to run with it; it was the best he had.

"I'll get those three," he pointed at one of the groups of robed figures, "and you get those two."

Sirius shook his head. "That's crazy. Someone will hear us and I know you're good but I don't fancy our chances against hundreds of Death Eaters.

Harry shrugged. "I'll do it on my own then."

"No chance."

"Ready?"

Sirius sighed before nodding slowly.

"Ok, let's go."

Harry led the way out of the shadows. He couldn't believe that the Death Eaters hadn't spotted them yet but he wasn't about to start questioning his luck now he had finally got some. He pointed his wand at one of them and muttered a strong stunning spell under his breath just as Sirius did the same thing beside him. The first two Death Eaters dropped quickly but this alerted the others of their presence. They looked shocked before rounding on Harry and Sirius, pointing their wands at them and trying to look intimidating while only really succeeding in looking like they were about o shit themselves. Three on two or not, they had heard what that Potter boy could do and they were all wishing they were anywhere other than right there.

It was a good thing that none of them though to yell for help; as good as Harry and Sirius were at fighting they wouldn't have stood a chance if they were too seriously outnumbered. As it was the fight was relatively quick, ending with all five Death Eaters out cold on the floor and Harry and Sirius feeling slightly out of breath.

"I told you it was a good plan." Harry looked slightly smug.

"That wasn't a plan! It was just…"

Sirius never got to say what it was because Harry had suddenly remembered the other three bodies lying just behind them. He rushed over to them.

"Are you ok? Can you get up?"

One of them pulled back their hood and Sirius was relieved to see that it was Estrella and they hadn't just risked getting caught to save some sleeping Death Eaters.

"I don't know about those two but I am definitely not ok. I think I would've had to kill myself if I had to listen to those idiots for much longer. It's crazy how they manage to survive on so few brain cells."

Harry rolled his eyes and fought back a smile.

"I assume that means you aren't injured then?"

She thought for a bit before shaking her head and adding "I'm gonna have some killer bruises though."

"And what about you two?" Harry glanced at the others. Oliver had taken off his hood. He had a black eye but other than that looked ok but the other person was still hooded and appeared to be staring at Sirius, not speaking at all.

"Ginny?" Harry didn't think it was Ginny anymore. Whoever it was was too big. He looked at Estrella for help.

"He was the first on your list to get. We didn't find any of the others before we got caught."

Harry flicked back to the list he had made in his memory.

"Remus?"

The man's head snapped round to look at him.

"Harry? What's going on? He's supposed to be…" He trailed off. Harry couldn't blame him. It wasn't everyday you're dead best friend saved you form a bunch of Death Eaters. He placed a hand on his shoulder gently.

"I'll explain later. Right now it's important that we focus."

Harry and Sirius helped the other three to their feet.

"Have you seen Voldemort since you arrived here?"

All three nodded.

"Did he have his snake with him?"

They seemed to think for a second before nodding again.

"The snake wasn't with him at first but he called it while he was with us." Estrella gestured vaguely to a clump of trees at the other side of the clearing.

Harry didn't dare to hope that they could be so lucky that the snake would be alone and near but he walked over to where she was pointing anyway. Hissing softly in Parseltongue, willing the snake to come to him. At first there was nothing, just his own breathing and the rustle of leaves, but then he heard faint words coming from the trees, coming closer.

"_You are not my master"_

Harry shook his head before realising that the snake probably didn't understand that.

_"No, I'm not. Please come out, I need to speak to you."_

The snake slithered out of the shadows warily, its head swaying from side to side.

_"Please. I won't hurt you." _He tried not to feel bad for lying to it. It was only a snake after all. Finally he could see the whole of the snake's body. He bit his lip nervously hoping Sirius would work out the plan even though he hadn't told him.

Harry's original plan had been to lure the snake out and kill it. It was a simple enough plan; he liked the simple ones, they left far less space for error. However, looking at the animal now, hearing it speak, he wasn't entirely sure he wanted to kill it. He knew it wasn't human but… to him it seemed that way. It would be altogether easier if Sirius would do it for him but he couldn't convey this plan to Sirius while the snake was lying right there so he would have to rely on his non-existent telepathic powers.

It soon became apparent that this plan wasn't working very well.

After nearly 10 minutes of making small talk with the snake, all four of the others were still standing metres behind him, now looking very confused. Harry realised he was wasting time but he really didn't want to do it. Then a wave of embarrassment washed over him when he realised he could just tell them since the snake wouldn't understand English.

_"Can you give me a second? I'll be right back."_

He shifted over to the others who were all waiting patiently for an explanation.

"Erm… Can someone else do it?"

They all looked at him in disbelief as he shifted awkwardly.

"Harry, it's a SNAKE!"

"I know but… please?"

They all glanced at each other and Sirius rolled his eyes.

"Ok, I'll do it."

Killing a living horcrux is easy than killing an object horcrux since you really do just have to kill it; nothing complicated about that. Sirius and Harry went back to the snake and with a wave of Sirius' wand Voldemort's last horcrux was gone.

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A/N: If you review i'll give you a present. it will have to be a virtual present since i don't actually know you but it will still be great. Promise.


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